A personal exploration of Disney media along with the chronicling of my many trips to Disneyland through the years. And while this is primarily a Disney and Disneyland blog, along the way I occasionally contribute writings on some other pop culture and media topics just for the fun of it. There are almost 800 posts to this blog. Click through the Archives and I hope you have a good time. Enjoy The Disneyland Traveler Blog (completely without ads or annoying attempts to sell you anything).

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Haunted Mansion Returns To Shades Of Gray

The Haunted Mansion returned last week stripped of its debatable holiday overlay and ready to entertain fans in various shades of gray for the next nine months or so. Disneyland needs the Haunted Mansion because its omnimover ride vehicles (doom buggies) suck up park guests like nobody's business. At 3,000 guests an hour, you can often get on the ride with very little wait.

Certainly Disneyland needs the Haunted Mansion. The Disneyland Traveler? Not so much. Don't get me wrong I like the ride a lot - it's a classic after all. But when all is said and done, even dripping with back stories, myth, and urban legends, I find the HM kind of boring. Life in shades of gray doesn't so much haunt me as much as it tends to put me to sleep. There have been more than a few times where I caught some Zzz's during a ride on the Haunted Mansion thanks to its length (pushing 15 minutes).

No, the Haunted Mansion isn't a bad ride. It's a great one in fact and was the last ride conceived by Walt Disney before his death. In the scope of things, it just isn't my ride.